I'm ready to let go

Happy New Year! I'm back in Denver after surviving an incredibly boring drive across Kansas. I rolled into town around 1:30, laid on my couch and did nothing, and them tried to coordinate with Katie on what I should cook for our planned brunch tomorrow...which instead turned into us meeting at Ash'kara for happy hour tonight, since we didn't want to wait. We ended up hanging out there for four hours, which was a v delightful way to finish the decade.

Then I came home, watched some Beyonce videos, and am now going to bed before midnight so I can start the new year off right. Goodnight!

come with me, catch a rare type specimen

I'm in a hotel in the vast interior of Kansas. I am headed back to Colorado, but i-80 through Nebraska was looking dicey and had been closed in spots, so I took i-70 instead. I have never taken this route, so it's almost interesting... But it mostly isn't, since I'm staying in the same brand of hotel as usual, and had the usual sad dinner with several awkward locals at a nearby Applebee's.

But I had a nice, lazy morning at home, and then I said farewell to the family around two. I drove almost straight through, although I had to stop for fuel about four hours in. And I spent half the ride listening to the audiobook of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman - it's pretty funny, so it's good for staying awake.

And now I need to sleep so I can get on the road tomorrow - goodnight!

bury me face down

I spent today prepping to leave ye olde Iowa, and also procrastinating from the prepping. This meant I didn't get out of bed until after ten, and then lazed about the kitchen and ate the v. tasty breakfast that my dad prepared.

I did end up spending a couple of hours of quality time packing my car - between the things I got for Christmas + the fragile things from my bedroom that I decided to finally pack up and take with me, my whole trunk is full. But I'm mostly packed; I also packed my main suitcase tonight, so my only packing-related tasks for tomorrow are to pack my overnight bag with all my many and varied toiletries, as well as pack any snacks or drinks for the road.

Of course, I'm not quite done despite that rosy pronouncement - I also need to deal with all the trash I emptied out of my room (into the hallway), and I'll need to shower, eat, hang out with the fam, etc. But all in all, I'm closer than I usually am - so I'll probably get out of here around noon tomorrow, with the plan of staying in North Platte tomorrow night.

The rest of the day was uneventful. My dad tried out his new popcorn maker - it will probably work really well once he gets the hang of it. My mom made ham and beans for supper (with gluten free corn bread muffins!), which was delish and v. much what I wanted. And then we played Ticket to Ride - I edged out Mom for the first victory, and then lost badly to [censored] in the second.

After that, I packed, messed around, tidied up my desk, and redid my financial records so that my family can piece together what to do in the unlikely event of my untimely demise. And now, with that cheerful task done, I should sleep - goodnight!

rebels and mutineers

I had a pretty quiet day in ye olde Iowa. I inadvertently slept until almost ten, which delayed breakfast (they must really love me if they didn't start without me). But then Dad made bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns, and it was all delish. After breakfast I showered and then spent way too much time online, but I eventually broke myself of my relapsed Twitter addiction and spent the afternoon organizing my room.

Since I never feel like cleaning when I'm here, and since I am slowly accumulating detritus from deceased grandmothers, white elephant gifts gone awry, etc., my room has been slowly descending into squalor. I went a long way toward rectifying that today - I threw away a couple of bags of garbage, organized a bunch of stuff to take to Colorado with me, and generally tidied up. I also enlisted [censored]'s help in rearranging furniture - I'm getting rid of the papasan, which was replaced with Gram's recliner and the cedar chest, which is the right height of stand for my old tv.

That all felt like an accomplishment, so I deserved the prime rib that I had when we went out to eat tonight. And now, after having done some more stuff in my room so that I could unearth my bed from the wreckage, it's time for bed - goodnight!

i know the score like the back of my hand

Happy two days after Christmas! The last couple of days have been pretty fun, all in all - Drewbaby and Aunt Kathy came down yesterday, and so we ate and drank and played games. It was Kathy's birthday, and I'm not entirely sure she wanted to celebrate it by losing Settlers of Catan, but she seemed to accept it.

Catan was new to most of us; Andrew has played it some, but none of the rest of us had. So we played a few games of it yesterday, and then [censored], Drewbaby, Aunt Kathy and I ended the night by watching a couple of comedy specials in the downstairs living room. I also spent way more time on social media than I should have - I got more embroiled in the latest romancelandia controversy than I usually do (long story short, most of the board and the president have now resigned from the main professional romance writing organization after a flare-up that started on Monday, and I expressed an opinion about the staff that has led to me getting like 200k views on twitter in the last three days - which is probably not a lot for real influencers, but has been a bit distracting for me. sssanyway. This controversy will probably sprout like five different adjacent scandals, and I'm not sure I want to get involved in any of them, but time will tell).

So. When we woke up this morning, we hung out, ate breakfast, and then played a couple of games of Ticket to Ride before Aunt Kathy and Drewbaby headed back to Des Moines. Tonight I convinced the family to play Catan again (although I'm not sure any of them like it), and I managed to claim victory, so now we'll probably never play it again.

And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

don we now our gay apparel

Merry Christmas! I had a pretty lovely day in ye olde Iowa, although it felt like bizarre-o Christmas because it was 60+ degrees and sunny, and also we were missing people but it almost didn't feel like they were missing because we historically didn't do things on Christmas Day with most of the rest of the family anyway.

But the day was still pretty nice. I set my alarm for seven and discovered that I was the last person up by a mile (even though I could have slept another hour). We did our usual slow unwrapping of presents, and everyone got some pretty great stuff - it turns out that when I'm going to drive, rather than fly, I get much bigger and heavier stuff (like an ice scraper for my sidewalk that is as tall as I am, or some Crate and Barrel hauls that would be v. annoying to have to ship back). I also got a couple of cookbooks that I'm eager to try, a drill to continue feigning capability as a homeowner, a mug that lists all the main attractions in my hometown and includes my neighbor (Lorena) as a key attraction in the middle of a list of buildings (I agree with that sentiment), a stock pot, and some other fun gadgets and gizmos for cooking, gardening, homemaking, etc.

So now the trick will be spending enough time at home in 2020 to actually put those things to good use - we'll see what happens!

After we unwrapped all our gifts, we ate brunch (breakfast casserole, gluten free blueberry muffins, ambrosia), relaxed a bit, etc. I ended up taking a nap, as did most other people in the family (other than my father, who industriously went to wash his truck, which is never possible on Christmas Day). I spent a rather desultory afternoon messing around online, and then the family played Ticket to Ride (my dad won, edging out my mom). Supper included a 22lb ham (we have some leftovers, lol), scalloped potatoes, and baked beans, and it was all v. tasty.

And now, I really need to sleep - Aunt Kathy and Drewbaby are coming down tomorrow, so I need to get my game face on for whatever fun we might have in store. Goodnight!

i am an idiot walking a tightrope of fortune and fame

Merry Christmas Eve! Today was pretty lowkey - my mom has a cold, I feel like I could succumb to it, and we were all generally housebound. Some of us escaped for various errands; in my case, I went into town to make a grocery store run before everything closed early. I'd completed my grocery run and had swung through the cemetery to say hi to Gram and Granddad before heading home - but then I got an urgent request for more oranges. I made it back to town with ten minutes to spare before the grocery store closed, and so my dad was able to finish making ambrosia for tomorrow's breakfast. This is a Christmas tradition - he doesn't make it any other time of year due to the effort involved, since it requires meticulously cutting out sections of grapefruits and oranges (and then adding some bananas for good measure). But I'm looking forward to tomorrow's batch!

When I got home, I ended up making supper (you know my mom isn't feeling well when she delegates the kitchen). I made my grandma's traditional Christmas Eve lasagna - this is what we always used to eat when I was little, since we always celebrated Christmas Eve at Gram and Granddad's. It wasn't so traditional this time since we used gluten free lasagna noodles; also, it turned out way less saucy than hers, which makes me wonder if something is off about the recipe we have. But it was still pretty tasty, and I made some gluten free garlic bread to go with it, so that was all nice. And Mom had made a pineapple upside down cake before succumbing to her illness, which was also great.

Then [censored] and I adjourned to the basement, where we had to finish wrapping a bunch of gifts for tomorrow. And now I should sleep and hope that this isn't actually a cold coming on - goodnight!

give me a break, let me make my own pattern

I inadvertently slept until almost ten, so it's no wonder I've inadvertently stayed up until one a.m. Today was pretty good, all in all - I wandered upstairs to make coffee, and I took care of some tings, and then I showered before going to Osceola with my dad in search of a new phone for him. I successfully switched him over to a Pixel while also resisting the annoying sales pressure tactics of the salespeople, so I consider that a success.

I also saw part of the surrounding areas that I don't usually see, since I would normally take main roads rather than backroads over there. Dad took me through what used to be Lewisburg, and you might never guess that a town used to be there - but there is a small, ancient two-story school (now covered over with tin and badly leaning, but still home to a Masons group), and also a cemetery filled with some of our relatives. The rest of it is mostly fields and hills, plowed over and fading out of memory.

But the weather was gorgeous for December, and we're still here, so let's make the most of it. My dad and I stopped at the grocery store, then came home and ate steak for supper since it was nice enough to grill. Then we all played Ticket to Ride (twice), and now I should really sleep - goodnight!

i showed up late one night with a neon light for a visa

Today was another round of Christmas festivities - my sister and her family came over, so we spent the afternoon together. This was much louder + twice as big as yesterday's Christmas festivities - Sammi has two kids of her own, and her boyfriend brought two of his kids, so it was a bit of a madhouse. Zane and Allison couldn't bring their daughter since she was at her dad's house, but from a noise level that was probably for the best.

So we ate lunch, hung out, opened presents, and Sammi's boyfriend's son showed me his Pokemon deck. Sammi and crew were the first to leave, so [censored] and I hung out with Zane, Allison, and Allie in the living room until it was time for them to take off.

Then I took care of some Christmas stuff, and then I ate leftover gluten free pizza, and then we played a game of Ticket to Ride (which Dad won by one point). And now, I should sleep - goodnight!

don't i make you cringe

No blog tonight - I made it to ye olde Iowa after a v. uneventful (but 4.5hr long) drive. Then we celebrated Christmas at Aunt B's, which involved prime rib and a lot of white elephant gifts (the usual white elephant + Aunt Kathy brought a bunch of stuff that was Mark's, which was fun and bittersweet). I would go into more detail, but I have been falling asleep off and on over my laptop while trying to do stuff for the last couple of hours, so it's time for bed. Goodnight!

sweating all your sins out, putting all your thoughts back together

I'm lying in a too-hard bed in Kearney, Nebraska (home of the Archway Museum, one of the very very many gateways to "the west"). Today went as smoothly as it could have, although I woke up at six (after five hours of sleep), started stressing about something at work, and didn't really sleep again. That was unfortunate, and is why I'm in Kearney instead of Lincoln.

But I drank coffee, journaled, showered, packed my car, and got to my office in time for a meeting, so it all worked out. I did a couple of hours of work, and then snuck out for a fancy lunch with Nicole - we work together and could have eaten free food, but instead we celebrated the end of the year with salads and sauvignon blanc at River and Woods. The office was totally dead today, so this was a great day to catch up a bit without feeling rushed.

Then we went back to the office, I did another hour of work, and then I headed east. Northeast, at first, since I had to cut across the northeast corner of Colorado (which makes it sound fast, but it takes a couple of hours). I didn't really stop to eat, other than some fries and coffee in North Platte and some Doritos from a stash of snacks in my car. Instead, I entered a meditative fugue state, fueled by caffeine and music and some snippets of an audiobook about Princess Margaret.

Now, though, I really need to sleep - I need to be out of here by seven so I can make it to lunch in Des Moines, so it's time for bed. Goodnight!

can you whisper in my ear the things you want to feel

I had a decent day, although I was a few minutes late to work due mostly to general laziness with a side of construction. But I had some good meetings and also some great brainstorming on a project that I am passionate about and am going to do even if it feels like Frodo volunteering to go to Mount Doom.

I then left around five, ran an errand, drove to Denver, and grabbed a drink with Kristen at Ash'kara. We also had hummus, which was as great as usual, and it was a fun bit of downtime before the end of the year. Then I came home, did a bit of laundry, and mostly relaxed and sent some personal business emails and ignored my corporate inbox for the night. Fun fact, though - the laptop that I thought I'd fried yesterday miraculously repaired itself overnight, so that was good news. The screen wouldn't turn on yesterday, but I knew the hard drive was still working because I'd plugged it into an external monitor. So whatever rest it got overnight was enough to cure it.

And now I need to go to bed - after wishing my mother and Chandlord both the happiest of birthdays! Goodnight!

what did you expect to find? was there something you left behind?

I'm ready to go to bed - today was a bit brutal. I managed to get to Boulder by eight, but in my not caffeinated state I spilled water in my backpack and may have fried my laptop. I had a whole bunch of meetings (with a highlight of lunch with Aga, from my old team), then escaped at 5:30 and had a long dinner with my friend Christine to celebrate her birthday. We went to Jill's, and it was great...

... But that meant I got home at 9:30 and then worked for another ninety minutes. And so I'm wrecked and need to sleep - goodnight!

I should be on top but I'm always underground

I had a decent Monday - I slept poorly, which is unusual for me, but I made it out of bed by 6:30 and journaled for half an hour before tackling the day. I had to drop my car off at the Audi dealership for service and recalls, and then I went to work and slogged all day. I had more free time than I usually do, so of course I messed around instead - I had lunch with Kelly, gossipped with some people, and generally wasn't totally in it to win it.

So I left around 4:30, picked up my car, and went to a super Target to finish Christmas shopping. I got toys for the kids in the family, and I picked up a copy of Settlers of Catan, which is a classic board game that somehow my family has never played (probably because it doesn't have trains). So, that was a v worthwhile errand, even though I would've rather been home.

I eventually made it here, though, where I ate leftover pizza and did some more Christmas browsing. Then I did a couple of hours of work to make up for being lazy at the office. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

rescue me with a little whiskey

Fun fact: this is my 5118th blog post. Not exactly an anniversary, but I missed saying anything on my 5000th post, so this will have to do. I realize that this has been a supremely bizarre exercise in (edited more than you probably know) self-reflection, capturing most of my life since 2004 in a way that almost no one is doing in the blogosphere anymore. So thanks to those of you who've been around the whole time. Thanks to those of you who have dipped in and out. Thanks to those of you who became friends with me long after this began and didn't ditch me when you discovered that this is what I do. And thanks to that random person who used to read every day from Ohio [analytics tells me states/IP networks like Comcast, not individuals, just fyi], then occasionally hit me up from a hospital network in Ohio, then disappeared completely (I have no idea who it was, but thinking about that stranger makes me sad since I can only assume they're dead - unless they recovered and vowed not to spend so much time reading my blog).

sssanyway. I guess I'm going to keep going with this blog thing since I'm in too deep to stop now. Today was not particularly noteworthy, although it was really nice. I slept in a bit, then drank coffee and journaled by my fireplace and felt like I was living my best life. Then I talked to [censored], who did his best to deflate my good mood, but I did not rise to the bait of our usual sibling antagonism (but ignoring [censored]'s attempts to annoy me felt like its own kind of antagonism - which is pretty much the definition of siblinghood).

sssanyway again. I then spent multiple hours doing stuff around my house, for the first time in forever, and it felt pretty great. I tidied everything up, which wasn't too hard since I usually keep things pretty neat. I also hung up the fake buffalo head that I ordered for my downstairs powder room - it looks great above the toilet, and certifies me as an urban hipster. I wrapped 50' of garland and a couple of strings of lights around my stairway banister, which was a last-ditch effort to make it feel like Christmas in here since I didn't get a tree. I put out a bunch of candles, finished putting back all the stuff I packed up when the painters came a couple of months ago, and put out a couple of other holiday-type things. Then I showered, took out the trash, and talked to my parents to solidify Christmas plans.

And then, I took a break and was also rewarded for tidying and decorating - Morganne and Kristen came over for pizza and wine, and my place looked cute and well-kept (rather than looking like a dumping ground for luggage, which is what it has looked like between my trips recently). We grabbed pizza from Blue Pan and ate it around candles in my dining room, and it was all fun and lovely in the best way. They caught me up on what I missed from the holiday party, and we generally gossipped and had a good time.

And now, I should probably sleep so that I can tackle the week - goodnight!

green lights in your body language

I feel like this is the first day in months where I could take a breath. So, I took it. I slept until 8:30 (a far cry from when sleeping in meant noon, but I'll take it), then drank coffee and journaled, and then puttered around the house. Eventually I ran some errands - in had to do a bunch of returns to Nordstrom, so I went to Flatirons, where I accomplished that + window shopped at Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, etc. Then, I did what I never do on the weekend and drove into Boulder - I wanted to pick up the wreath that I'd ordered that finally got delivered to my office yesterday, and I also took the opportunity to procure some Christmas gifts for my team and drop them off at my desk for later distribution. 

I also made a stop at Home Depot, which I visit far more than I used to - I needed some shelves for my office closet, so I procured those + some Christmas lights. I haven't been home this month and am leaving for Iowa on Friday, so I didn't really decorate for Christmas - but I'm planning to score the end of season sales so I can prep for next year.

Then I came home, unloaded my car, messed around a bit, and left again to meet Sarah-Frances and Brea for a drink at Lady Jane + dinner at Bar Dough. I work with both of them and find them delightful, so I'll glad we had a girls night out. The dinner at Bar Dough was particularly tasty - the special was a gnocchi that I decided to pretend was gluten free (gnocchi is potato, but they usually roll it out on a floured surface), and I'll glad I got it because it was incredible. We also had a nice bottle of wine, some dessert, and a lot of fun conversation, so I'm glad we made it happen.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

jeremy bearimy

Sorry for not blogging last night - nothing of interest happened (other than that [censored] rightly gave me feedback for telling him that a member of Roxette died via my blog rather than a personal telephone call). I've also been trying to embrace the mindfulness/lack of Internet that I built in Santa Cruz, so I tried to stay a bit offline.

Today was more of the same - I woke up and actually didn't check my phone, and then journaled a bit before starting my day, which was a win. I worked from home, and I was done at 4:30....and unfortunately around five, as I was making chili, I had what felt like it might have been a migraine. That kind of knocked me out, so I ate and napped and skipped the holiday party I was supposed to go to. No regrets, though...when I eventually recovered a bit, I journaled some more, made a list of decorating things to do, and then watched several episodes of The Good Place.

And now, it's later than I've stayed up in ages and my residual headache needs a bed - goodnight!

i don't care when i'm with my baby

I had a v. long day - I woke up at 5:40, showered, and got out of the hotel so that I could drive up to SF. I made it there a little before eight, so I got an hour of work done, then did a couple of hours of meetings, and then headed for the airport.

Unfortunately my flight was delayed for an hour, so I ate some sad Chinese food and then worked while waiting for my plane. And now, after making it home and after feeling somewhat wrecked all evening (the dramamine didn't help) I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

I'm watching the phone ring

No blog - I woke up feeling like I'm getting sick, so I managed to extend last night's hotel for tonight and cancelled in shedletskys so I wouldn't get their kid sick. It was a miracle I got a room since everything area-wide was sold out, so I'm glad it happened.

So I spent the day drinking emergen-c and coffee, had a meeting with my boss (among many other meetings), and had a quick meeting with Heather (she messaged me to express condolences for one of the members of Roxette dying, which was good timing for us since it brought us together). Then I grabbed food at my beloved Vive Sol, came to the hotel, worked, and am going to sleep so I can get up early - goodnight!

I know I was lost but I miss those days

After getting up at six and driving down to Mountain View (sans coffee), then talking for nine hours, I managed to take a delightful break for a friendship renewal dinner with Joann, Jen, and Jane. But I had to do another couple of hours of work tonight, so I'm too wrecked to blog - more tomorrow. Goodnight!

karl malone

I had a fabulous weekend in Santa Cruz + the city of sin, which is dangerous for my endlessly-wandering, never-satisfied soul. My writing class/retreat was really wonderful - the last couple of days were restorative and inspiring in a way that I was really craving, and I hope I carry that with me even though it's back to the grind tomorrow. The teacher (Dani Shapiro) was one of the best writing teachers I've ever heard speak, and the subject (memoir) was something I'm deeply interested in and also deeply avoided. But maybe it's time to stop avoiding.

It was also wonderful to spend a weekend with Veronica, who is one of my favorites - we had a lot to say to each other, and she was the perfect person to have this experience with. It was the perfect blend of 'earnestly engaged with the material' and 'snarkily rolling eyes at everyone else', so we got along swimmingly. We also got massages yesterday, enjoyed some time talking over wine in the cafe, and generally made the most of our weekend away.

The program ended this morning with two hours of work + Q&A, which was pretty illuminating. Then we bounced rather than waiting for lunch to open, so we got back to V's around 1pm. I promptly drove over to Nopalito - when I realized I could have lunch in SF by myself, I considered My Tofu House, Samovar in Yerba Buena, Caffe Union (my true love, but hard to park next to), and a variety of other spots, but I ended up at Nopalito. So I journaled and ate more than I should have just because I never have it, and it was lovely.

Then I drove to the Kabuki, checked in, did an hour of work (a stupid expense report), took a twelve minute nap, got myself ready and went to the lobby. I talked to my parents for a few minutes to verify that they were still alive, and then hung up as Lauren (aka Subz) walked through the door. We only had an hour to catch up but we made great use of that time - it's great to have friends who are always friends, no matter the distance or changes between interactions. Also, she has the best hair in the world (as a slightly sketchy man in the bar told her), so she has that going for her, which is nice.

After she left, I took an uber to Chandlord's, where I made small talk with her roommate (who almost didn't let me in at first) until Chandlord was ready. We went to Rye, where we had a drink, and were shortly joined by John and Jess. We eventually adjourned to Esan Classic, where we met up with Oniel (aka Fauxniel, the surprise special guest who no one knew was coming except for me), Aditya, Santy Claude, and Sam (who needs a nickname at some point). We had a very delightful, very standard Sunday family dinner over a lot of delicious thai food; it was pretty sedate since it's a work night for all of us, Claude is pregnant, and Adit is starting a new job tomorrow. But it was nice to have some family time, even if it was in the heart of the Tenderloin and men were waving iron bars around outside in an ominous and/or drug-fueled manner (note: I chose the location and knew exactly what I was doing when I did it, tanks).

And now, after a v. successful weekend, I need to sleep so I can drive to MTV tomorrow - goodnight!

good words

I'm in Santa Cruz, listening to the rain fall outside my window. I had a great day in SF - I did a bit of work this morning while watching the crashing waves on Ocean Beach, and then V and I met Barbara, Anne, and Grace at Cliff House for one of our fancy lunches. It was great to see them, although it felt like I just saw them...but I've lived a year in the two months since we were in Tahoe, so time has ceased to be a fathomable thing.

Then V and I drove to Santa Cruz, where we're spending the weekend at a memoir class in the same facility where I did a class with Grace last year. It's great to be back, and I think I'll get a lot out of it. But in order to get a lot out of it, I want to be more present, and that means less device time. So if I don't blog tomorrow, don't assume I'm dead...I may just be avoiding tech. Goodnight!

so when you cut me, cut me deep

I'm safely ensconced in Veronica's guest room, with the Pacific somewhere outside. I had a very long day - I cut it closer at the airport than I like to, partially because my Uber driver had to get gas before picking me up. But I still had time to grab coffee before boarding, and I got a lot of work done while we sat for a stupid long time on the tarmac, and then I worked the whole way to SF rather than napping like I wanted to.

I eventually made it into the office, where I saw a bunch of people (including a v impromptu lunch with a Singapore director who happened to be in town), and that was all good. Then I spent a v long time navigating rush hour, which seems to be continually worse. When I got to Veronica's, we ate burritos and drank chenin blanc and discussed many things, until my body could no longer discuss (even though my heart wanted to).

And now I must sleep - goodnight!

trying to pull ahead, i'm always chasing time

I had a rather insanely busy day at work, and then I sloughed off at 4:30 to get a mani/pedi. I hadn't gotten a manicure since September, which is proof of just how ridiculously swamped I've been - I'm usually fairly religious about #treatyoself activities, especially manicures, but I just haven't been able to make it happen. I did today, though, and my usual nail lady was v. happy to see me (and given the state of my cuticles and the fact that I'd painted my own toenails, it was obvious that I hadn't been cheating on her with some new salon in Denver, which is what she had assumed).

Then I drove home, ate some leftover pizza, laid on the couch for ten minutes because I couldn't handle the idea of doing anything, and then got ready to go to California tomorrow. This involved watering my plants and packing; I was going to try to fit everything in a carry-on, but since this trip is half writing-related and half work-related, and since it's going to be rainy and cold, and since there's a likelihood that people in Mountain View will try to send stuff back with me for the team in Boulder, I decided to just check a bag. I will probably regret this at the baggage carousel tomorrow, but c'est la vie.

And now I'm going to go to bed and get approximately six hours of sleep - goodnight!

they say the nile used to run from east to west

No blog tonight - I'm weirdly tired (which perhaps isn't weird since I feel like I haven't had a break in months, but c'est la vie), so I'm going to crash. Goodnight!

i told you the truth about the old me

I had a decent day back at the office, mostly because I didn't have a lot of meetings. That's not going to be true tomorrow, unfortunately. I also left at five and had a glass of wine with Vicki at Shine - we initially kept the conversation light, but then we got into a very detailed conversation about which of us should own something at work, which was kind of a hilarious turn of events. Then I grabbed motomaki, drove home, should have worked, and instead messed around online. I did eventually work for an hour, but it wasn't all that productive - and rather than push it, I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight!

as we stand upon the ledges of our lives

I had a surprisingly productive day, especially given that I haven't had time to curl up in my own bed and do nothing for weeks (my last weekend day in my own bed without leaving for the airport was four weeks ago). I did take advantage of some lazy Sunday morning time to read news in bed, but I eventually dragged myself out of it and got on with my day. The first priority was coffee - I didn't have any fresh cream in the house, so I went to Allegro, grabbed a nicer coffee than what I usually make for myself, and journaled for an hour. Then I grabbed some groceries, came home, and spent the day taking care of a variety of tings.

This involved scooping out both my front sidewalk and my back patio path to my garage - some kind neighbor cleared the main sidewalk, but I needed to take care of the path to my front door. I also did four loads of laundry, tidied up the kitchen (after making scrambled eggs and hash browns), finished my Christmas list, took out my trash, and put the new registration sticker on my Audi. I even spent some quality time in the basement - I finally put together the wine rack I'd ordered, which matches the shelves [censored] and I put up downstairs, and I'm really enamored with it. I may have to get another one...or I may have to stop stockpiling wine, one or the other. But I have a temperature sensor down there and I'm extremely unlikely to ruin the wine by temperature fluctuation; the humidity might be a factor long term since the low humidity can apparently cause cork issues, but I doubt I'll keep anything long enough or expensive enough to matter.

Eventually, though, I stopped doing house stuff and took a v. quick shower. Then, Katie, James, and the girls came over for dinner - they picked up pizzas I'd ordered at Blue Pan along the way, so we ate pizza and generally had a v. good time. The girls were very excited to see my place, since they hadn't been here before, and they have now decided they want to move in (even though I have no toys and they had to resort to playing with my door stopper before I played them some kids show on Netflix). So, a good time was had by all, and it was a great way to end the weekend.

After they left, I took care of some laundry, did dishes, ordered stuff online, and generally messed around. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

and we are forced to recognize our inhumanity

I'm back in Colorado for a hot minute - or rather a cold minute, since it's approximately nineteen degrees and there is still much snow to be found in my neighborhood. I spent the day in a bunch of rather leisurely pursuits in Iowa - mostly eating, drinking coffee, and talking to my parents, with a bit of packing and some Christmas shopping thrown into the mix.

But all fun ends eventually, so I said my farewells to my parents around five, and [censored] took me to the airport. I was early enough to allow for a salad while I did some online tasks, and then my flight was entirely uneventful. I started reading SAPIENS on a whim - it's gotten a lot of press in the past few years, but I'm not sure I'm totally into it. But even though I just said that, I'm going to sign off and read another chapter before bed - goodnight!

alejandro

I'm falling asleep as I start to type this, so I'll keep it brief in hopes of being able to publish before my body gives up for the night. Today was a lovely, quiet day - I spent the morning hanging out with the family until Aunt Kathy and Drewbaby left around noon, and then I spent the afternoon doing a lot of nothing. Eventually my parents, [censored] and I played Ticket to Ride; I won once, Mom won once, and [censored] was so mad about losing very badly in the second game that he thoroughly trounced us in the third.

In the meantime, we also ate leftover Thanksgiving dinner, and I then spent the last couple of hours perusing black friday deals. And now I should really sleep - goodnight!

i cut off my tshirt sleeves and claim a new continent

Happy Thanksgiving! I am still in ye olde Iowa, where the family and I had a good day, all things considered. It was never going to be a great day; we only needed six chairs and didn't have to use any folding chairs for the dinner, which was a real kick in the teeth if you think about it too hard. So I didn't think about it, and drank a bottle of wine instead. But of course Uncle Mark and Gram weren't too far from the surface in anything that we did today, and that's just a given.

sssanyway. Mom made a veritable feast for Thankgiving, and Aunt Kathy and Drewbaby came down to enjoy it. We ate sometime around one (after stuffing ourselves with the relish tray first), then sat around and digested, and then eventually spent a lovely night playing Codenames and laughing as much as possible. Drewbaby and Kathy are spending the night, so I should probably go to bed so that I can hang out with them in the morning (and also do some online Black Friday shopping, of course). I hope you all had wonderful holidays - goodnight!

but i've read this script and the costume fits, so i'll play my part

I had a super lowkey day - I slept for many hours, and then spent most of the day taking care of a variety of tings around the house. This included going to town with [censored] to donate Gram's recliner and pick up groceries, and then going to town again a few hours later with my dad to donate Gram's walker and pick up more groceries. We also went to town a third time to have dinner at the Mexican restaurant - it was pretty tasty, as usual, so it was a v. worthy excursion.

And now, after doing some early perusal of the black friday sales, it's time for bed - goodnight!

there will be an answer, let it be

Today was not particularly noteworthy. I woke up and did some day job stuff, unfortunately - there is still a lot going on, and I find it hard to disconnect. But I got through some stuff that I felt had to get done, and I think the rest of the week will be blessedly quiet.

After that, I spent the rest of the day messing around the house and contemplating things to get rid of in the basement (in conjunction with my mom and [censored], who were also confronting the many and varied things that we have accumulated over the decades). [censored] and I also ran into town to complete a couple of errands - we're in a high wind advisory tonight, with the potential for thunderstorms / tornadoes / hail (it's been lightning outside off and on for the last couple of hours). None of the bad things are likely to happen, and instead it's likely that tomorrow will be super bleak before everything freezes over. But still, it was good to get out and accomplish stuff before the apocalypse hit.

Then we came home, I messed around a bit more, and we eventually had supper (ribeye grilled outside since the wind hadn't picked up yet, plus fried potatoes and green beans, yum). I watched some fine CBS programming with my mom, but eventually decided that I would rather be accomplishing stuff downstairs - which I did with mixed results.

And now, I need to sleep - goodnight!

take it all back

I had a lovely day in ye olde Iowa. I spent the morning drinking coffee in my pajamas, which is something I haven't done in ages - it may not be my own house or my own coffeemaker, but it's my own pajamas and coffee I brought with me, so it'll do. Eventually, I threw on some clothes and went on an adventure with my dad - he's contemplating taking some oak trees off a neighbor's hands, which is possible since my dad has a tree spade and the neighbor has a bunch of oak saplings chilling on the edge of his field. So we drove down the road in Dad's gator, and drove around the field checking out oak trees. There were some nice ones, surprisingly not damaged by the deer, so perhaps they'll end up in our yard someday.

When we got home, Dad took me on a tour of the back part of our property, which I haven't been to in years (it requires driving over the pond dam). So, that was fun and informative (if you find deer carcasses informative - although we only saw one, so perhaps I'm exaggerating). It's going to be nice again tomorrow, but then it will be wintery the rest of the week, so it was nice that we got out.

After that, I ran into town to pick up a couple of things, then came home and hung out until supper. My dad smoked some pork, and my mom made layered lettuce and baked beans, so supper was pretty delicious. Then I caught up on some fine CBS programming...and now I should sleep. Goodnight!

you can go your own way

[note: this should have posted last night, but I fell asleep before sending it!]

I'm back in Iowa for the week, less than two weeks after my last trip here. Today was uneventful, all in all - I woke up early enough to be somewhat leisurely with my packing, and so was able to leave my house pretty tidy rather than having stuff strewn everywhere. I took an Uber to the airport and had time for lunch at my beloved Cantina Grill. Then I boarded, and my flight was on time, and I slept almost the entire way.

When I got to Des Moines, [censored] picked me up. We ran an errand at Costco to buy the same shelves that I put in my basement - [censored] walked out with four sets, while I got some wine to replenish my stocks here. Then we went furniture browsing ([censored] moved a couple of months ago), and then we had a tasty supper at a Mexican place that [censored] had gone to with Aunt B and Uncle B.

After that, we drove home through the wilds, and we saw deer but not close enough to hit them. And now, after talking to my parents, unpacking, and generally relaxing, it's time to go to bed - goodnight!

don't sit around and complain about it

I worked from home today, which was a welcome respite from people even if I sat in meetings almost the whole day. Then I met Katie at Lola's, where we went deep on many topics while drinking margaritas and eating our weight in chips. And now, after doing absolutely nothing for the last couple of hours, I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

robbing on a bank in the state of indiana

After getting only 5.5hrs of sleep last night, today was a bit tough. However, it could have been worse - my meetings were generally good, and I had time for a quick lunch with my boss, and I also got to hang out with people since I arranged a celebration for some work stuff (which means I ordered cookies, played party music awkwardly in a conference room, and gave an equally awkward toast).

Also, I left at 4:15, so it wasn't that onerous. I grabbed a happy hour drink with Brea at River and Woods, where we had a delightful time catching up. Then I ran to whole foods, grabbed dinner at motomaki, drove home, and worked for awhile when I got here. I also inadvertently fell asleep on the couch, which I guess should have been expected.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

purple hat

It's after midnight, which is the latest I've stayed up in several nights, and my body is not happy that I've rediscovered this feat. I spent this morning doing an entirely unusual thing (for me, anyway) - we had a leadership activity that involved three hours of horse therapy. This did not actually mean riding the horses - it was mostly hanging out with them and trying to get them to do stuff by activating our cores and sending energy, etc. This was weirdly interesting and useful, since our group dynamics were definitely on display - and it was nice to get out of the office, even if my feet were freezing by the end of it.

I'm not explaining it well, but I'm too tired - because as soon as it was over, we came back to the office and I worked / sat in meetings for another six hours. I was going to go home at five, but traffic was a nightmare because it had snowed half an inch and most of the recent transplants had panicked and left their offices all at once. So I stuck around, kinda did work, and then had dinner with Doris and Tom since they were still in town. By the time I left them, my commute was down to its ideal 35min, so sitting around was probably #worthit.

Unfortunately, though, I had to work for the last three hours (with a 15min nap and a break to paint my toenails) on some stuff that absolutely had to get done for tomorrow. So now I'm going to go to bed and get approx six hours of sleep before doing some of this (but not the horse part) again tomorrow - goodnight!

by the sycamore tree in the dead of night

In a bizarre mirror of last week, I'm in a hotel room in Boulder. But tonight I'm in the hotel opposite of the one where I stayed last week; I spent the whole day with my boss instead of being the boss; and I'm in bed at 9:30 instead of staying up until two. It's funny how fast things move - two weeks ago I was packing to go to Iowa. It's no wonder I'm exhausted and not really processing anything.

But today I had an offsite that is going well so far. It's usually exhausting to do all day meetings, but this was better than most. We also broke early to do a surprise baby shower + happy hour for someone in my team, so that was a welcome bit of fun. And then the off-site group went out for dinner - we went to Blackbelly on my recommendation, and it didn't disappoint. The ribeye was excellent, they have some pretty perfect potatoes, and the whole meal was generally on point.

Now, though, I should be doing slides but have made the dangerous decision to get up early and finish in the morning. Goodnight!

bonafide hustler making my name

I got almost nine hours of sleep last night, but it wasn't really enough to make me feel human. Still, I got to work and slogged hard and fast all day. I also discovered that this offsite that I've got tomorrow and Wednesday is going to be more involved than I thought - we are going horseback riding or something Wednesday morning (which I knew), but it's 20mi north of Boulder (which I didn't know), which would make my commute on Wednesday morning at least 90min. Given that we have dinner in Boulder tomorrow night, I balked at that - so I decided to book a hotel and tell ("ask") my boss to pay for it.

So, just like it feels like I've done every few nights for the last few weeks, I came home and did some laundry so I could throw stuff into a bag. Luckily my toiletries are still packed, so I just have to pack for Tuesday night / Wednesday (but what do you pack to ride a horse? asking for a friend).

sssanyway. After work I grabbed Motomaki, then drove home and talked to [censored] on the way. I procrastinated for a bit before doing laundry, working for a couple of hours, pounding another Emergen-c since I feel like I deserve a cold, etc.

And now, I need to sleep so I can get up and do it all again - goodnight!

unaware i'm tearing you asunder

I got nine hours of sleep last night, and I probably could have used nineteen. When I woke up, I got ready, packed, and went to the lobby to grab coffee. Then I sat on the patio for a bit, and then we had brunch at the hotel - it was fairly subpar, and it was both enhanced and made so much worse by our waiter (who introduced himself as Jimmy approximately ten times, but I would guess that was not his real name), who promised us the best orange juice we've ever tasted (reader: it was not).

But it was better than me trying to go to Universal Citywalk for brunch, which is what my friends had planned to do since they were going there this afternoon. After brunch, I parted ways with them (sadly), took a 25min nap in my friends' hotel room since I'd checked out of mine, and then went to the airport. I was way too early and tried to get a manicure at the xpress spa (which I've never used before), but they didn't have a technician. So I just sat sullenly and stared at my phone and tried not to fall asleep and miss my flight.

My flight, though, was totally uneventful, and I alternated between napping and working. Then I grabbed some food when I landed in Denver before driving home (and talking to my parents). And now it's become clear that I'm going to be totally unproductive tonight, so I'm going to go to bed and hope to repeat my nine hours of sleep before going back to work tomorrow - goodnight!

I can show you the world

I had an amazing day at Disney, especially since I booked this trip approximately 48hrs ago. We maxed out the experience - despite getting not nearly enough sleep (for the sixth night in a row), we rallied and got coffee before arriving at Animal Kingdom a few minutes after opening. We had a great time there - we rode the Everest ride that I rode last time (but this time I had prepped with Dramamine), and also the Kali River Rapids, which was not very popular because it was super cold today and no one wants to get wet in the cold.

Luckily it wasn't super cold in the morning, so we enjoyed a Dole whip with rum, and also an outside lunch. But while we stood in line for three hours for Avatar (worth it), the sun went behind some clouds and stayed there.

So after Avatar, which was still so transcendent that I can't describe it, we had margaritas, then went to Epcot. Epcot was way cooler than I expected, I wasn't super impressed by the rides but I was v v impressed by the food and architecture.

So we did a couple of rides, and we all bought Disney sweatshirts that we may never wear again, and we had dinner at Marrakesh (in the moroccan area), and thjen we watched a v impressive water-based fiteoreworks. And now, I'm falling asleep while typing so it's time for bed - goodnight!

party all night to the break of dawn

I'm in Orlando for a totally ridiculous, extremely last minute trip (i.e. I bought tickets last night). I will explain more tomorrow, perhaps, but for now I need to sleep so I can survive a death march through Disney in the morning - goodnight!

take me to the top i'm paranoid

I was completely, utterly wrecked today - I unfortunately woke up at 6am and was unable to fall asleep again, which meant I got only five hours of sleep and so felt hungover even though I wasn't. I slogged through the day and was borderline manic through most of it - my exhaustion was visceral, and I need a vacation badly.

sssanyway. I had some of my coworkers over for pizza tonight, which was great - we ordered from Blue Pan, ate it with some wine, and ended up hanging out on my back patio. It's chilly, but my fancy $10 costco blankets make it wonderful, so it was all quite delightful. We ended up having a final drink at a tiki bar (Hidden Idol), and while I should regret not being in bed hours ago, I can rejoice in going to be earlier than I did most nights this week. Goodnight!

ride it, my pony

I survived yet another event - if I had to do another one of these this year, I think I would die. But this one was particularly great - even though they've all been great. I spent today alternating between event stuff and tending to all of my growing dumpster fires on other projects. And then the evening closing event was on CU campus - we rented out the clubhouse at the football stadium, which had an amazing view of the mountains and some v. delicious food. Kristen brought in the CU marching band and mascot, which was super ridiculous and fun, and our awards ceremony went off without a hitch (and I didn't have to say "next slide" like a total bitch, as I did in Berlin).

So, that was super fun, super exhausting, and everything in between. We were done at 7:45, so a big group of us ended up at License No 1 in the basement of the Boulderado - it was pretty perfect, since we got there so early on a Wednesday that we could pretty much have a room to ourselves. So I drank a couple of Moscow mules (the official drink of these events for me), had a series of totally ridiculous conversations, played some skee ball, mourned some team changes, and generally had a great time.

But now, I need to go to bed and hope for at least seven hours of sleep, which won't be enough to make me feel perfect, but is better than nothing. Goodnight!

will you take me away, will you make me your wife

I'm so tired... I'm basically faking my desire to be alive, not just my desire to be present and engaged. But the event is going swimmingly, and I had a super fun night with my team (and others). We started with a party at the office, which turned into drinking wine on the floor near our desks, and then we adjourned to the hotel and continued the fun. But now, after draining my social abilities to the very dregs, it's time for bed - goodnight!

my maserati does 185

I'm deep into the day job again...I came straight back from my bereavement leave into the Boulder version of the event that my team planned in Sydney and Berlin. But today was good, all in all...I answered some email, and then we did a run through, and then I realized I had time to go home to pick up clothes before checking into my hotel.

So tonight was v chill, and it ended in a hotel bar with tomorrow's keynote speaker trying to recruit my whole team (good luck to him because he is amazing, but I am always going to attempt to win). And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

realize i don't want to be a miser

I'm back in Denver after a crash landing into my regularly scheduled life. I awoke this morning in Iowa, where I had just the right amount of time to hang out, eat a snack, drink some iced coffee, shower, and pack before heading out the door. I also played with silica gel - I preserved a few roses from my gram's casket spray, and my mom will tend to them while I'm gone. This is perhaps a slightly macabre collection, but I have a rose from my uncle's casket that I preserved in similar fashion (and now have in an acrylic box that is meant for baseballs), and it seemed fitting for one of Gram's roses to go with it.

sssanyway. My parents took me to the airport, and on the drive I learned far more about hedge trees (aka Osage orange) than I ever knew I needed to know. At the airport we said our farewells (temporarily, really - I'll be home again in two weeks). I had time for a salad at the airport before flying to Denver, where I picked up my car and headed home When I got here, I had just enough time to start some laundry and take a shower before my houseguest came home - my coworker Alice was staying with me this weekend, but I wasn't here to host her. I think she had a good time without me, but she made time tonight for us to hang out.

So we had drinks at Williams and Graham (a speakeasy that looks like a library), and then we walked to Root Down, where we had a v. lovely dinner. Alice left for Boulder after dinner, and I took care of my laundry situation and wrote this blog. And now, even though it feels ridiculous to sleep this early, I'm going to bed - goodnight!

the ghost in you, she don't fade

We buried Gram today. It's a v. strange thing to do, when you get right down to it - the ritual, the flow, the way things always go as you move through the schedule of saying goodbye. In a small town that's even more true - things happen that we all understand, but that don't happen in bigger cities. Things like leaving funeral announcement cards at all the convenience stores, grocery store aisles, etc. so that the public can hear about the funeral in time. Or how nearly everyone pulled over for the funeral procession and let us pass as we drove six miles from the funeral home to the cemetery. Or the visits we got before the funeral, and the meal put together by the community after.

Today was as nice as it could have been - the weather was gorgeous, and while it's all rather sad and awful, it was time for Gram to go. So we tried, as much as possible, to be somewhat celebratory (although we all seemed on the edge of sobbing). [censored] and I delivered joint remarks at the funeral, which went pretty well all things considered. We aimed for the right mix between levity and tragedy, and I think we got there - the levity was important, partially because Gram loved to laugh and partially because [censored] and I wouldn't have made it through if we hadn't had some jokes to keep us from losing it.

Of course, it was touch and go at other points. The PEO group that Gram was part of for 45 years (and that her mom was in, and my mom is in, and Aunt Becky is in, and I'm in) performed the funeral service for departed members, which nearly broke me since I've known those women practically my whole life. Gram's friend Lois had a really hard time - she's over ninety, is still living at home and driving and totally sharp, and has now lost all of her original friends. And many of the attendees were in their seventies or beyond...the shift in the community, as it comes, is going to be dramatic.

sssanyway. After the service, and after the cemetery (where I nearly lost it when I remembered, as we pulled up, that seeing Gram's burial meant I was also going to see Granddad's side of the tombstone, and I v. rarely visit Granddad because even after eighteen years it's still sometimes too painful), and after the dinner (aka lunch, which I mostly spent with my sister and two of her three kids), we came home and dealt with the cards and memorials and all the listmaking needed to ensure that we send thank-yous. Aunt B and Uncle B, and Aunt Kathy and Drewbaby, all stayed for that part, but slowly trickled out over the course of the afternoon. So then my parents and [censored] and I went out for prime rib, and it was a decent end to teh day.

So, this chapter is over. As much as I like change, I'm hoping that there aren't any other closing chapters coming up - I could use a break from trauma.

Finally - the family made a cookbook with all of our favorite recipes from Gram, as well as stories and quotes from all of us. We did this a year ago, so my uncle's thoughts are in there too. We printed a bunch of copies for the funeral, but if you want to make jello salad or ham balls or a variety of other midwestern delights, you can get the pdf at bit.ly/teressa-cookbook.

And now, since I still don't quite feel like getting into the emotion under the facts, I'm going to bed - goodnight!

gloria, there's easier ways to die

Today was mostly funeral prep, and I'm reminded of the benefits of #smalltownlife - several people (Barb, Lorena and Ross and their son, and Joan) all showed up at some point to reminisce, which was really nice. Of course, many of Gram's friends are gone too - she's a month shy of her 89th birthday, so her generation is disappearing fast. Lorena flipped through the photo album from Gram's 80th birthday, and many of those people are no longer with us.

But Gram was so involved in the community that she had a very wide circle, so the support has been great. We spent a lot of time going through photos for the funeral home. We also met with the pastor (my former 8th grade English teacher), which was nice. And we just generally hung out, which was nice.

 And now I'm desperate for sleep - goodnight!

even in a hurricane of frowns

I'm back in ye olde Iowa after a v busy day. I got up early and scrambled like mad to take out the trash, clean out the fridge, do dishes, shower, pack, and also do a meeting for work. This was almost five hours straight of effort, so it's no wonder I slept for the whole plane ride.

But before the plane, I had to put air in my tires, and then get to the airport and through security. I made it in time for my customary margarita and burrito bowl at Cantina Grill, and I did a bit of work there. Then when I got to Des Moines, I found a quiet seat and did another ninety minutes of work while waiting for family stuff to begin.

Eventually Aunt B and Uncle B picked me up and we went to Johnny's for dinner. Aunt Kathy was already there, and my parents showed up pretty much on time despite hitting a deer on the way up there. We had a lovely dinner with our favorite waiter, so it was worth going.

But now I'm in bed and falling asleep with my phone, so it's time to sleep - goodnight!

counting all the numbers between zero and one

There's no point in burying the lede: Gram passed away Sunday night. My dad called me early Monday morning, and was lucky that he got through to me - I usually turn my ringer off, but I was half-waiting for this call, so I had left my ringer on overnight. It was time for her journey to end, since her dementia was a slow-moving horror show - but it's still sad, and I'm still not quite ready to put how I feel into words.

So. Yesterday was a bit of a haze, since I went to work and pretended to care while finding myself distracted and thinking other thoughts. Today was slightly better, or I pretended to care slightly more - it helped that I was wearing a fun new sweater/coat that I bought at Anthro last night while pursuing my usual strategy of throwing money at problems (in this case, the problems = my emotions). Also, one major benefit of working at my company is that I sometimes, completely unexpectedly, run into old friends - in this case, I looked up from my rushed 13-min lunch to see Jenni, whom I've known since the very beginning. We overlapped in India, and we went to South Africa together a lifetime ago, and she's one of my favorites even though I haven't seen her much the last couple of years.

So while I was supposed to spend tonight working, cleaning, and packing - and while Jenni was supposed to spend tonight at a work dinner - we instead played hooky on all responsibilities and met at a wine bar down on Larimer. We were only going to meet for an hour, but instead we stayed for over two, drinking wine and eating cheese and talking about current lives and past lives. It was really great to see her, and probably good to get out of my head for a bit (even if that means I have not packed, have not worked, and am only marginally ready to go tomorrow).

So I guess today could have been worse, and seeing Jenni made it a whole lot better. But now I really need to sleep - my alarm is set for six so that I can take care of a million things before heading to the airport. Goodnight!

if i could just exist without you

I had a pretty nice day, all in all - I didn't do nearly enough around the house, but that's the way it usually works. I laid in bed and did nothing for far longer than I should have, although I did eventually pull out my laptop and do some journaling. Then I got ready to seize the day...which meant trimming my bangs, putting on a face mask, and then showering and putting on makeup before leaving the house.

My first and really only plan was to have brunch with Morganne - she drove down from Boulder and we met at Duo, which is about a thirty minute walk from my house. The walk over was nice, and seeing Morganne was even better. Also, I'd only been to Duo for dinner before and thought it was a bit too pretentious then, but I liked brunch a lot - it may be one of my new favorite go-tos. It felt a bit more whimsical, with mismatched coffee cups and placemats printed with 'recipes' from small children (most of which would cause food poisoning, like mine that suggested baking the chicken for five minutes before covering it in ketchup and 'enjoying'). And my skillet with brisket and potatoes and scrambled eggs was pretty much perfect.

So, seeing Morganne was fun - we've known each other off and on since 2008 and now we're on the same team again, so we had many tings to discuss. When we were done, I walked over to Katie's and stole my car from where I'd left it last night, and then went on a bit of a scavenger hunt - I'm on the lookout for some furniture pieces to complete my house. I started at Mid Mod Market, which has a lot of midcentury modern stuff - they had some really cool pieces, but I only walked away with some tiki shot glasses that I absolutely didn't need. Then I tried a few antique stores on South Broadway, and then I went to more of a home decor store south of there in a neighborhood I never go to - that store was super cute, but by that point I was feeling too indecisive to buy anything other than a candle. But hopefully I can make some progress so that I start to feel totally settled.

Then I came home, took a brief nap, called my parents, and contemplated doing nothing for the rest of the night. But I couldn't do nothing - I had a lot of personal stuff piling up. So I spent a couple of hours doing financial and other boring tasks - I took care of a rather annoying issue related to my 2016 taxes, and everything is printed and ready to go (but whether I can bring myself to darken the door of a post office remains to be seen). I also did a couple of hours of day job work, because that's what had to happen. And now I'm going to go to bed and hope that the week gets off to a good start - goodnight!

drive by

Today was long but v fun. I did a bit of stuff around the house in the morning, and then met up with old friends - the people who I call the drunk freshmen (who are now in their mid thirties) are visiting. I started with coffee with Tom, since he recently left a tech job to write, and so we had a lot of writing type stuff to discuss. Then we met up with Julie, Deano, and their friend Emily at Bar Dough, which was a delight. We continued the fun at Recess, and overall it was super great to see them.

However, brunch was late (1pm start), and I had a six pm reservation for dinner, so I only got a few minutes of break in between my plans. I then picked up Katie and we went downtown to The Kitchen - we never go for dinner downtown, but this was worth it. We discussed many and varied things, and had some oysters (among other things), and it was generally a wonderful night.

And now I need to go to bed - goodnight!

'cause in the daylight there are monsters in my closet using up the wifi

I went to the office and slogged all day, as per usual. But as I was at the office, my painters were finishing my house - so I came home to a fully finished project, which was awesome. It turned out really well - and now I need to start some hardcore decorating and nesting to make it feel finished, since I haven't been hanging anything or buying some of the things I want to buy.

Despite my enthusiasm for the house, I was feeling tired tonight - so I messed around online, generally procrastinated, etc. It wasn't all a lost cause - I put away all the clothes and other things that had piled up in my room after getting back from my trip, and I washed my guest room sheets, and I generally tidied things up. This was not a fun Friday night, but it was the Friday night I needed, so I'll take it.

And now I'm going to go to bed - I have many plans tomorrow, so I need to get some sleep so I can tackle them. Goodnight!

made him a legend in his time

I'm super tired - I had meetings all day and had to talk in all of them, and then I drove Kim home, which meant more talking. I ate some leftover soup and did some work while sitting here, and then I went over to Kelly's and had a drink and generally enjoyed myself for a few hours. But the fun eventually had to end - I still had work to do, so I came home and spent the last hour doing that.

And now, after a completely boring post, it's time for bed - goodnight!

take my breath away

No blog tonight - I stayed home and didn't leave the house due to continued snow, and I'm getting a little stir crazy. I had meetings all day, and sadly my painters didn't accomplish much while I was on the computer - one stayed home entirely, and one came in, painted the downstairs bath, and left to avoid the worsening snow. Hopefully tomorrow is better, but we'll see.

After I finished meetings, I took a break to try a new stirfry recipe (success!), and then I worked for the last couple of hours. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

hold me now, i'm six feet from the edge and i'm thinking

I stayed home from work today, which was probably a mistake because tomorrow's weather looks like it will be even worse. But I didn't really have much choice - I had to be home this morning to greet my painters, who arrived to make all my fixer-upper dreams come true (okay, my house is not a fixer-upper, I am just vain and don't like beige). Their speed is really making me retroactively regret the time I spent painting my office myself - in six hours today, they painted my entire living/kitchen/back entry/laundry room, twice. They did a really nice job so far, although they covered the least offensive (aka least beige) part first, so I'm even more excited to see tomorrow's progress.

However, I didn't actually watch them all day - I had to work, so I spent the day holed up in my office. I took a break this evening, talked to my parents, and also talked to Katie. And I made a v. tasty ribeye to go with the potato soup I made last night - the ribeye method I tried tonight worked really well (let the steak sit on the counter for 45min to take the chill off; preheat the oven to 450; get an oven-proof skillet really hot on the stovetop; rub the steak in salt, pepper, and olive oil; sear for one minute on each side; pop in the oven and bake for 4min on one side and 3min on the other; let rest while the soup reheats). This came out a perfect medium rare, nice sear, and some smoke but not as much as putting oil in the pan or letting it pan-cook longer. Since I don't have a grill and it's also super cold out, this method will do.

Unfortunately, I had to do a couple of hours of work tonight, so I did that while listening to a v. 90s playlist and enjoying my fireplace. And now I need to sleep - I want to go to the office tomorrow, but the weather looks treacherous, so we'll see. Goodnight!

all the small things

Today involved way, way more effort than I really wanted to put into anything - but many hours of incessant working seems to have somehow helped me to miraculously avoid jetlag. It's unclear to me how I avoided almost all jetlag on both the outbound and return portions of my trip to Berlin - but perhaps the fact that I was staying up until 3am in Berlin (8pm in Denver) somehow helped, even though it hurt at the time. Now if I can avoid coming down with a nasty cold like I usually do, this trip to Berlin would have to be counted as a success.

sssanyway. While that's all good, I had to do a ton of stuff today - I have painters starting at 9am tomorrow morning, which meant that I had to finalize paint colors and move a whole bunch of stuff today. The painting company owner came over this morning to help finalize, and I chose everything except the hallway color, which required some more sampling. So after she left, I ran to a paint store to pick up a gallon of paint for the laundry ceiling (she uses Sherwin Williams, but the current paint is almost all Benjamin Moore, and I wanted the ceiling to match everything else). I also went to Whole Foods in hopes of finding tomatillos, since I wanted to make chicken chile verde and couldn't find tomatillos yesterday - but this WF was also out of tomatillos, so I was out of luck.

Then I came home and spent the rest of the day moving stuff, packing stuff, hauling stuff up and down stairs, and also doing several loads of laundry in preparation for not being able to use my laundry room for a couple of days. I also talked to [censored] and to my parents, and made myself some cheesy potato soup (it would have been better if I'd taken time to make bacon to put on top of it, but it was pretty good despite that).

And now I need to sleep - we're in the middle of getting a whole bunch of snow, so I'm going to work from home tomorrow, but I'm going to have to slog hard to get through the many and varied things on my plate. Goodnight!

sometimes i give myself the creeps

Despite napping at 7:30 last night and then officially going to bed sometime around nine, I ended up sleeping until seven. This went a long way toward getting over my jetlag... and now it's midnight, which is either a good sign or will be a disaster since this is when I was getting up in Berlin.

But I did a bunch of house stuff today - I painted a whole bunch of samples on a whole bunch of walls, which took quite a bit of time. Then I raked a whole bunch of leaves and generally prepped some outdoor stuff - it was over 70 today, but we're supposed to get like eight inches of snow in the next couple of days. Stupid Colorado.

Then I went to the paint store to get three more samples, and then I went to whole foods to get groceries so that I can cook and generally keep myself alive if I don't go into work for a couple of days. Then I came home and painted a second coat of everything. I'm narrowing down my choices and am generally happy with where it's headed - but we'll see how it all looks in the morning.

And now I'm overdue for bed - goodnight!

can I get an amen

I had a thoroughly uneventful trip, followed by a real struggle to stay awake, which I mostly failed at. So I'm going to go to bed and hope I sleep a million hours and recover quickly - goodnight!

auf wiedersehen

It's my last night in Berlin, and I'm ready for a too-early wake up time and a flight back to my beloved house. I had a quiet day, which I needed - I slept in, worked in bed for a couple of hours, showered, and then had a currywurst and some fries at the bar downstairs while working for another couple of hours.

I probably could have just kept doing that, but I forced myself out of the hotel - Kristen and I had dinner at a really cute, delicious place I found called Shishi. It looked questionable walking in since we were the only people there, which felt way too romantic... But it slowly filled up, and the vibe was really nice. It was great to catch up after the event in a low-key setting, especially with such great food.

But now, it's over - Berlin has redeemed itself a bit in my mind, although I won't be heartbroken if I never come back. But that's the future, and in the present I need to eke out a few hours of sleep. Goodnight!

99 luftballons

This is the best trip I've ever taken to Berlin, and that's saying something considering that I had to write some nasty warning emails and my team has decided that me saying "next slide!" in my bitchiest voice is the funniest thing they've ever seen. But really, the event was great. I woke up this morning really not feeling like getting out of bed, but I rallied and made it into the office in time to do some work and then have a bunch of meetings. Most of my meetings were internal - it's my only chance to see some of the team members who work in other offices, so I had a bunch of 1:1s, which was good. I also got my own performance eval from my boss, since she's in Berlin for this event - the context switching between the event + everything else I do was interesting, but all in all it was good.

Tonight was the end of the event, which meant three hours of being 'on' (and one second of yelling 'next slide'), followed by six hours of going out. Kristen planned an amazing event, so we had to celebrate. So a bunch of us ended up at Tante Lisbeth, where we drank moscow mules and threw coasters at each other and generally had a fabulous time. We also made sure that Kristen got her first doner kebab (my third of this trip), and I'm hoping that the food saves my life.

Now, though, I really need to sleep and dream the dreams of the just - goodnight!

mein haus

I'm tired, but it's two am, so that should be expected. Today went off without a hitch, and tonight's dinner at a club was even better... And then I went out with the Europeans (as I often do) and had Moscow mules at a v. hip bar with Alice, Pierre, Luca, Lore, Selene, Erin, etc. That lasted way longer than planned, and ended with some v v tasty doner kebeb... So all in all it was a great night. But now it's time for bed - goodnight!

what you need

Day one of our event got off to a fine start. I spent the morning working, first from the hotel breakfast area and then from a coffeeshop, in an incredibly ineffective and ultimately vain attempt to get caught up on work. You can't miss a week for vacation, plus already be behind before vacation, and hope to catch up in three hours while jetlagged. That's a shame, really, since I desperately need to get caught up like right now and definitely won't.

sssanyway, then I grabbed some takeout lunch and walked over to the event space, where I watched a run through of tomorrow's stuff. And then I came back to my hotel, had a couple of meetings (one involved half a glass of wine, which was nice), and then went to the welcome reception and stayed until the bitter end. At that point a bunch of people were going out, but I need to bring my A-game tomorrow, so I came up to my room and took off my pants. But then I got an urgent ping from Kristen asking for help with something, so I had to make the ultimate sacrifice and put my pants on for another hour. Really, I'm a saint and deserve a raise.

That probably won't happen, though - but at least I'll wake up tomorrow (after seven hours of sleep instead of eight) without a hangover, so there is hope that I'll at least survive the dawn. Goodnight!

in a river of champagne

Today was decent, especially by my I-hate-Berlin standards. I slept pretty well last night, and so I didn't feel jetlagged much today. So I had a lazy morning, then went out and grabbed döner kebab for lunch - since I can't eat pita, I got it in a box with fries, salad (some greens and some beetroot), kebab meat, and a bunch of sauce. Since this is basically meat on top of fries, I was pretty happy. It was also a gorgeous day, so I was able to eat outside, and then take a walk along the East Side Gallery. My hotel is right on the edge of the River Spree, which used to be barricaded from view by the Berlin Wall - it must have been ridiculously depressing to be so close to the Spree and not be able to see the river because the wall blocked the view.

sssanyway, the Wall came down years ago, but sections of it survive, especially in the form of art exhibits. So I strolled along the East Side Gallery, bought myself a coffee to enjoy some more strolling, and generally wandered a bit. I ended up checking out a flea market in Freidrichshain that felt vaguely post-apocalyptic - since I'm from a v small midwestern town, I tend to find graffiti trashy, but here it's an inescapable artform. In any other city, if I'd walked down a flight of stairs into a half-submerged alleyway and the first thing I saw was a completely defaced ATM machine, I probably would have left. Instead, I got money from the ATM and wandered among all the families, locals, etc. who were perusing the flea market. I didn't get anything there, but I did buy a cute book at an art gallery - they'd taken an old book and folded/cut the pages inside to make a 3-D design, and I found it oddly charming, so now it's coming home with me.

Then I came back to the hotel and took a longer-than-advised nap. I also wrote for a little bit while drinking a mocktail in the bar (who am I?). And then I had dinner with my team - we went to an Italian place called Ristorante a Mano, which was v. tasty and had surprisingly excellent service. And then we came back to the hotel bar and hung out for awhile...but slowly it dawned on all of us that tomorrow is a work day, so it's time for bed. Goodnight!

east side gallery

I'm not going to type anything profound tonight - I am in Berlin, in the pinkest hotel room I've ever seen in my life, and I'm about to crash for the night. My flights here were entirely uneventful; Frankfurt was vaguely annoying but not nearly as bad as some of my previous experiences there; and I got to the hotel in time to shower, unpack, eat a salad, and call my parents, which got me through to a normal bedtime without taking a nap upon arrival. I also read a really cute romance on the plane, and I slept a bit, so it was all quite easy.

But now I really need to sleep so I can acclimate tomorrow - goodnight!

i'm ready for the laughing gas

And just like that, my retreat is over and I'm about to immerse myself in day-job madness. I'm sitting at a restaurant called Mustard's, somewhere in the middle of the international terminal at SFO. I've sat here before, on different trips, with different people - in fact, I ate here before my last trip to Germany, five years ago right about now, when this was a restaurant called Andale.

But this time I'm flying through Frankfurt rather than stopping there for a book fair. I'm headed to Berlin, a city that I don't particularly enjoy - in fact, every trip I've taken to Germany in my life has been vaguely tinged with disaster. The best trip to Germany was for Ritu's sister's wedding, but on that trip I drank a bunch of floral arrangement water, possibly poisoned myself, and was sick for all the rest of it. The other trips involved equally bad ideas. But maybe my weird relationship with Germany isn't surprising - my only recurring nightmare involves being chased by Nazis while freezing in a blizzard...so if I believed in past lives, I would believe that my last past life was a disaster in its own right.

sssanyway. I awoke in Tahoe this morning after a v. short sleep, stuffed all my things into my bags, helped clear out the houses, and got on the road a little after nine. I gave Barbara and Anne a ride back to the Bay Area - they live relatively close to SFO, so it made sense for them to ride with me. We had a v. easy, lovely car ride, with a stop in Old Town Vacaville for lunch. We didn't realize that Vacaville had an old town, or really anything but outlet malls and In-n-Outs, so that was a surprise. I dropped them both off at their respective houses, made a quick stop in Burlingame to grab a single, beloved Philz Coffee (and mail myself a box of stuff that I needed for my writing retreat but don't need in Germany), and then came to the airport.

And now, after eating a steak, drinking some wine, and generally relaxing a bit, it's time to put on my compression socks (I am old) and board my flight. See you on the other side!

there I was a defenseless middle kid

Sadly, my time in Tahoe is coming to an end. Happily, though, today was great. I did some work and laundry in the morning - as usual, I'm a rolling stone, and since I'm headed to Berlin tomorrow I needed to do some personal stuff to get ready (and ensure I don't smell). I also got some coffee across the street, made a v tasty breakfast sandwich, and then spent the afternoon doing some v deep business stuff. I've basically ignored my writing business the past two years - my day job pays me enough to ignore it, and also I didn't have a lot of incentive since I wasn't publishing anything new.

But I spent several hours this afternoon confronting my numbers, and the short answer is that my numbers are better than my neglect deserves, but still have room to improve them. Thanks to my knowledge of spreadsheets I was able to figure out a basic conversion rate from my always-free book to the later books in the series, which is better than expected and also gives me an idea of my target cost-per-acquisition if I start advertising again. So, the spreadsheet time was #worthit, although I probably should have written.

Eventually I stopped working, and we had dinner at MacDuffs (a pub nearby that we often go to). Then we hung out... Eventually it was just me and Anne and Jules, and then me and Anne, and then Anne let me walk out into the bear-infested woods alone (jk there is a single sidewalk between her house and mine and no one tried to eat me). And now I need to sleep - we're packing up and driving to SF tomorrow, and I fly straight from there to Germany. Goodnight!

if I could find a way to see this straight

My writing retreat is already drawing to a close, which doesn't feel possible. I had a great day today, though - I was going stir crazy, so I spent the morning at Starbucks, where I did a bunch of stuff I'd been putting off, and also journaled for a bit. I also bought myself a couple of Tahoe sweatshirts - they were cheap, and I'm cold, and I also like wearing souvenirs from my retreats to remind myself of my writing life.

Then I came back to my house, procrastinated, took a nap, and eventually wrote about six pages, which I'll take. I had to stop for dinner - Christie is leaving tomorrow instead of Friday, so we went out to celebrate the end of the retreat. We went to Scusa, which is v tasty Italian food, and we had a grand time. Then we came home, hunt out, brainstormed things, etc. I was loath to go to bed, but I'd like to write a lot of words tomorrow, so sleep seems like a good idea. Goodnight!

oh black water, keep on rolling

I'm feeling slightly murderous toward the day job at the moment - less murderous than I felt twelve hours ago, since I ate and wrote and brainstormed and walked and ate and drank a bottle of wine since then, but still. I had to do two hours of work this morning because I don't have any managers to delegate to - this will change in the next couple of months, but for now I really don't have another viable backup option. So I dialed into a meeting, where my resting bitch face was probably more of an active bitch face, and then I took care of a few odds and ends before signing off.

Then I tried to put it all behind me - I went over to the other house and made a super tasty breakfast sandwich (for lunch) with a gluten free bagel, some cheddar and ham, and my variant of a folded egg. Then I alternated between writing, brainstorming, and procrastinating, with a break to walk across to Safeway with Anne to get a soda. Anne was super helpful in brainstorming, and I think I just need to move on to the next scene and see what happens.

All productivity stopped around six + we ordered in Thai food, and then I spent six hours hanging out. Writing might have been more productive - but I miss my writing people, so this was v worthwhile time. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

i'm waking up

It was a lovely day in Tahoe - I didn't write as much as I wanted, but I did write for a couple of hours, so it was still enough to feel happy. I also had to have a call with my boss, which made me less happy (because I don't like working on vacation, not because the call itself went bad). And I went to CVS and bought a bunch of eye care stuff - my eyes have been bothering me for several days, so I loaded up on new products to hopefully make them better.

I'm also now, finally, officially at the point of caring more about comfort than appearances - I bought a pair of sunglasses to go over my regular glasses. They're great, so pour one out for my youth, I guess.

We ended up staying in for dinner - we ordered takeout from a barbecue place. Unfortunately they forgot my order, so I didn't get much brisket... But everyone had so much food that I basically just ate everything else. And now, I think, it's bedtime - goodnight!

she said my spirit doesn't move like it did before

I got a lot done today, but unfortunately almost none of it was writing. Instead, I was up and at 'em by nine, and then I did five hours of work for the day job (with a break to make an omelette, which was the only nice thing about that span of time). I had meant to get stuff done on Friday before leaving, but instead I took a lot of time packing, getting my house ready, etc. And I couldn't really delay any of it any more, so I had to get stuff done. Still, as someone who almost always refuses to work on weekends and also doesn't work on vacation, working on a weekend vacation day felt like a real kick in the teeth.

sssanyway. After I finished what I was doing, I talked to my parents (and interrupted my mom's progress in making dinner for [censored], which was rather rude of me). Then I did write for about twenty minutes, but just as I was really getting into it, people started gathering to go to dinner.

We went to Azul, which we've been to before - it's a tasty Mexican place near Heavenly village, and the enchiladas and chips (and margarita) made me happy. We had a v. nice, v. stereotypically ski-bum server, which I enjoyed, and Grace drank an entire third of her margarita before giving me the rest of it (so my evil plan of convincing her to get a margarita paid off). Then we came back to the house and played a couple of rounds of Downton Abbey Clue; I sat out the first one, then won the second, so I'll take it.

And now I'm going to go to bed and hope there are no work emergencies tomorrow so that I can focus on zee writing. Goodnight!

found myself in a conversation

Tahoe was delightful today. I woke up early and went to the other house in search of my eye drops (fail) and iced coffee (success), and then Cassie and I went to Safeway to grab new eye drops and other things. I spent the whole day alternating between writing and catching up with all the people I never get to spend time with in day to day life.

Anne and I took a break to drive over and pick up pizza, and the rest of the night was almost today entertainment. And now I'm going to bed - goodnight!

(make your own)

I'm exhausted, but I made it to Tahoe for a writing retreat. Luckily, I decided last night to move my flight later in the day, so I had time to pack and generally take care of things.

But now I am desperately tired, so I'm going to sleep and catch you up on everything tomorrow - goodnight!

(Editor's note - woke up and discovered this didn't post, so posting now!)

dissolve

I'm tired and my eyes are bothering me - specifically my left eye, which looks like I have pinkeye, but I almost assuredly do not. Instead I have "business planning eye", because I'm deep in the midst of planning for next year at work, which means I've been looking at screens too much. Also my eye doctors have all told me that my tears are oilier than average, and so I have a tendency to block my tear ducts with oil, which is apparently bad for them. Serves me right for being a demon who cries oil instead of water, I guess.

sssanyway. I worked all day, although I took a few mins before and after work to lie on the couch with a warm cloth over by eyes like a maudlin Victorian lady. I even had wine at lunch - no further comment, other than that drinking wine out of a coffee mug at noon felt both illicit and necessary. Then I skipped out and had a very long dinner with Alice at Boulder Depot - it was pretty great to see her, so I'm glad we made it happen.

But now I really need to sleep - I got less done than I should have tonight, and tomorrow is going to be a bit of a joke. Also, it was 78 degrees when I walked into the restaurant at 4:30pm...and when I pulled into my garage at 9, it was 40. A 38-degree drop during dinner is really quite shocking. So I'm going to go to bed and mentally prepare for the apocalypse - goodnight!

don't let me down

Meetings. That's all.

But the good news is that traffic is definitely better now that they've reopened the collapsed section. Also, I like (most of) the people I meet with, so it could be worse. Oh wait - it is worse, because we're also in the middle of total insanity with multiple projects, since all planning for next year has to happen right now.

But it will all be okay in the end...and I'm going on vacation in a couple of days, so it will get better by force if nothing else. After I'd slogged all day, I went to a paint store to pick up samples for my upcoming paint job. Then I grabbed dinner at Motomaki, drove home (and talked to [censored] on the way), tidied up my house, and then worked for the last three hours. Fun times, I guess.

And now, after that entirely boring post, it's time for bed - goodnight!

it's so romantic on the borderline tonight

My parents left this morning, and they somehow managed to make it all the way back to Iowa - I assume that their speed was driven by wanting to spend the night in their own bed, and not because they wanted to leave Colorado as far behind them as possible. I spent a couple of hours this morning seeing them off, and then I drove to work. Happily, they finished the repair on the collapsed portion of the highway and so all lanes in both directions are now opened, which made my commute way better - granted, I didn't leave for work until ten, but it took the 35min it should take rather than the 50min it was taking before.

I wasn't totally #inittowinit at work today - I was a bit too tired, and also a bit too behind to really know where to focus first. But I survived all my meetings, got just a little work done, ate some lunch, and generally thought everything went fine. Then I came home, with a stop to run some errands. When I got home, I ate some leftover pizza, washed some stuff that has to hang dry (I'm leaving for Tahoe/Berlin on Friday, so I need to start prepping), messed around a bit, and then worked for a couple of hours. But I'm not feeling like I'm being super productive, so I'm going to go to bed and hope that I can get a bunch of stuff done tomorrow instead. Goodnight!

battle hymn of the republic

Apologies to my regular readers - I haven't been getting nearly enough sleep, and my parents are in town for the weekend, so I have less urgency to blog because they know that I'm alive. They're leaving tomorrow morning and then it's back to the grind (for a few days, until I leave on a two-week odyssey to Tahoe and Berlin, which are usually not combined into one trip).

So, let's recap. On Friday we went to Boulder, where we saw my old apartment and the Hotel Boulderado, and then had a tasty lunch at my office. Once we were done with exploring my Boulder haunts, we drove to Golden and visited the train museum - there were a ton of trains there, as you might expect, and also some garden rail exhibits, and so a good time was had by all. We then dropped by a train hobby store, as well as a garden store, before coming home and relaxing for a few minutes. Then we took an uber to LoHi Steakbar - I'd never been there, but it always looked cute from the outside. It turns out to be quite tasty - we all had flatiron steaks and fries, and split a pork belly hash, and I was pretty happy with the end result.

Yesterday we did some more sitting on my patio (my patio got excellent use this trip) and some more exploring. First we had brunch at Bacon Social Club - I went there with Ritu Rani a couple of years ago, when it was newish and relatively slow - but now it's a destination, and there were like fifty people waiting for tables when we got there. Luckily I'd made a reservation, so we waltzed right in and at a whole lot of bacon (yum). Then we drove down to Union Station, where I showed my parents the station, and then I went to Whole Foods to stock up on stuff to make dinner.

Then we came home and spent the afternoon doing house stuff while I cooked - I made chocolate pots de creme, and a v. tasty instant pot beef stew, so that we could have Katie over for dinner. Unfortunately her family had to bail because Anne had a fever, but Katie came over and proceeded to virtually stay the night. We had dinner and then adjourned to the patio, where we hung out from approximately 7:30pm to approximately 2am. I can't believe we were out there that long, especially since it was so cold - but obviously the blankets I bought for the patio were #worthit. Eventually, though, the fun had to end, and so I got Katie an uber and then came upstairs to crash.

That made today a little painful - I wasn't exactly hungover since I had paced myself with the wine, but getting less than four hours of sleep always does me in. Still, I had to rally to get some stuff done - my dad and I had an epic adventure to figure out how to blow out my sprinklers, since it's going to freeze later this week and I wasn't sure I could drain them myself. We ended up going to Home Depot (my dad only got one trip to Home Depot this weekend, unlike when [censored] was here in August and we practically lived there), where we bought an air compressor and some other random tings. Then we came home, ate some breakfast, and then messed around with setting up the air compressor, and then figuring out how my sprinkler system worked, and then blowing out all the zones with the air compressor. It was overall fairly straightforward, and I took comprehensive notes, so hopefully a) nothing breaks this winter and b) I can refer to my notes to blow out my sprinklers myself in the future. We also played around with my leaf blower, and I think it's safe to say that I'm officially a home-owning adult with real home-owning problems.

But when we were finally done with our main chore for the day, the three of us went to the Denver Botanic Gardens. I hadn't been before but now I want to get a membership - the grounds were amazing, and I could see a lot of joy in going there to write in the garden cafe. We walked around a lot of it, and now I just want to plant all the plants, but I know that's probably not the wisest idea.

Then we came home, rested a bit, and then I made supper (pork chops, green beans, baked potatoes, leftover pot de creme from last night). And now it's barely ten, but I'm going to sleep - I need to bid my parents farewell and also work tomorrow, and sleep is crucial for all of that. Goodnight!